Less than a week after the Harvey Weinstein verdict, a juror was interviewed by CBS This Morning about the sentencing and conviction process. Juror No. 9, who goes by “Drew†and withheld his last name, sat down with Gayle King on Friday to discuss the emotional toll of the trial, his experience witnessing the testimonies of Jessica Mann and Mimi Haley, and how the jury came to a unanimous verdict.
The New Jersey resident confirmed that of course, he knew about the Weinstein allegations from the media, including “Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, the New York Times, things of that nature,†before he was selected to serve as a juror, but that he takes “absolute pride in my objectivity,†adding, “you can know who Harvey Weinstein is and still be impartial.†When King asked if Drew wished that Weinstein had taken the stand, Drew admitted that he “wanted him to,†but can see why he didn’t, suggesting, “he could lose, kind of, his shield of representation once he goes up there.â€
In the clip below, King asks Drew what the verdict meant to the jury in relation to the Me Too movement, and he answers, “It’s not the job, and it’s not what we were asked to do, and it would also be an adulteration of the process, to take outside factors and have that weigh on our decision-making process and eventual findings.â€
King also pressed Drew on whether he personally thinks Weinstein should go to jail. Drew answered that for “a man of his age and of current health, the general population at Riker’s sounds like a pretty dangerous place.†Back in the studio, King recounted that Drew did not appreciate the prosecution’s use of nude photos of Weinstein: “he said, ‘we’ve all seen Mr. Weinstein. None of us felt we needed to see him nude.’ They were very turned off by that and didn’t think that that helped the case.â€